Fasteners



Dec. 29, 1959 E. a. FERNBERG FASTENERS Filed Feb. 13,

United States Patent FASTENERS Eric Birger Fernberg, Northwood, England, assignor to F. T. Products Limited, London, England, a British company Application February 13, 1957, Serial No. 640,021

Claims priority, application Great Britain February 17, 1956 1 Claim. (Cl. 24-73) The present invention relates to fasteners.

It is common practice at the present time to secure, around the inside edge of a door opening of a cabinet such as a refrigerator cabinet, a framing strip designed to hide the rough edges and ,joints of the cabinet and generally improve its appearance. The cabinet body may be of pressed steel and the frame of a synthetic plastic.

It is an object of this invention to provide a simple, cheap and effective fastener with the aid of which such a frame may be secured in the cabinet opening.

A preferred form of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fastener,

Figure 2 is a perspective view of a cabinet with a frame fitted in its opening, and

Figure 3 and 4 are respectively front and side elevations of portions of the cabinet showing how the fastener is assembled.

The fastener illustrated at is formed from a single strip of steel which is sheared and bent to the shape shown in Figure 1 and is then rendered resilient and rust-proof.

The fastener has a portion 11 bent to U-shape so as to have two arms 12, 13 and a base 13A. The arm 12 has two prongs 14 and 15 formed in its edges, which are directed inwardly, and towards the base of the U, and the free end of this arm is outwardly flared a little, as shown.

The arm 13 of the U-shaped portion is extended and bent away from the open mouth of the U and then bent into the form of a loop 16 and which runs into a flat part 17 the end of which is also outwardly flared, as at 18, to form a lead-in.

A steel refrigerator cabinet 19 is shown in Figure 2. It is formed with a rectangular opening 20, shown in broken lines, in which are to be secured four framing strips 21, 22, 23 and 24 which together constitute a single frame hiding rough edges of the opening in the cabinet.

The way in which a framing strip such as 21 is secured to the cabinet, with the aid of several fasteners of the kind shown in Figure 1, is illustrated in Figures 3 and 4.

At the edge of its opening the cabinet Wall 25 is shaped to be of L-section, having a front wall 26 and inner limb 27. At spaced intervals along its length the limb 27 is formed with rectangular notches such as that shown at 28.

A fastener is engaged in each notch and a framing strip such as 21 is engaged in the several fasteners located along each edge of the cabinet.

A fastener is engaged over the edge of the cabinet, in a notch, by placing the mouth of the fastener, i.e. the opening between the edge of arm 12 and the part 17, over the edge of the notch and then twisting while pushing the fastener down over the edge of the limb 27 until it assumes the position shown in Figures 3 and 4. In this position the prongs 14 and 15 effectively prevent the fastener from being pulled off the limb 27 except with the use of unusual force.

The framing strip 21 is of generally elongate V-section having a main limb 29 and a subsidiary limb 30 the latter of which is engaged under the part 17 of the fastener 10, so as to hold each framing strip in the position shown.

The assembly described has the advantages of eliminating the use of screws or rivets (which can be seen and which take longer to apply), the fasteners are applied quickly and easily, and the framing strips are held firmly in place, although they can be removed from the assembly in a few seconds.

What I claim is:

A unitary sheet metal fastener having a U-shaped portion, inwardly directed prongs on one arm of the U-portion, the free end of said last arm being outwardly flared, an extension on the other arm of the U-portion bent away from the open mouth of the U-portion, a loop integral with said extension and directed first away from the extension and then running into a fiat part spaced from and extending across and beyond the mouth of the U-portion, and an outwardly flared end on said flat part.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,164,014 Jones June 27, 1939 2,345,004 Place Mar. 28, 1944 2,428,338 Poupitch Sept. 30, 1947 2,451,591 Tinnerman et al. Oct. 19, 1948 2,456,553 Churchill Dec. 14, 1948 2,504,086 Peters Apr. 11, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS:

486,608 Canada Sept. 16, 1952 669,208 Great Britain Mar. 26, 1952 

